School’s (Not) Out for Summer – Down East

Just because students leave for vacation doesnt mean Maines colleges and universities shut down. All summer long, they still provide cool cultural programming for the rest of us. Here are four dont-miss events happening this month. Will Grunewald

No need to sign up for Netflix and plant yourself on the couch. If you have the itch to do some serious binge-watching, USM has arranged for an edifying one-day alternative, with 10 hours of fun, family-friendly, enlightening entertainment shown on its planetariums dome screen. Youll travel from outer space to the ocean floor, from the dawn of time to the present day all from the comfort of a reclining seat.

July 1. 10 a.m. $10 adults; $8 under-18. Southworth Planetarium, 70 Falmouth St., Portland. 207-780-4249.

Sure, you know the story of Muhammad Ali. But have you ever seen it told through dance? As part of the Bates Dance Festival, the INSPIRITperformance troupe led by Middlebury College dance professor Christal Brown uses movement, narration (The Greatest provided plenty of quotable quotes), and period-specific projections to evoke issues of race, social activism, and freedom. And what better venue than Lewiston, site of the famous AliListon phantom punch?

July 8. 7:30 p.m. $20. Schaeffer Theatre, 305 College St., Lewiston. 207-786-6381.

The third Thursday of every month, Bowdoins Harriet Beecher Stowe House where the famous writer penned Uncle Toms Cabin hosts an afternoon tea and discussion about the so-called little woman who made the great war. This months topic: the history and local color that inspired The Pearl of Orrs Island, Stowes novel set just down the way in Harpswell, written 10 years after shed moved away.

July 20. 1 p.m. Free (reservations required). Harriet Beecher Stowe House, 63 Federal St., Brunswick. 207-725-3155.

Summer is T-shirt season, and no one understands the subtleties of short-sleeved style better than New York photographer Susan Barnett, who traveled the country taking photographs of the shirts on strangers backs. Her aim is to investigate the zeitgeist through the silkscreened words and images full of political, personal, religious, and cultural meaning that we wear around every day.

Through September 2. Free. University of Maine Museum of Art, 40 Harlow St., Bangor. 207-581-3300.http://umma.maine.edu

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School's (Not) Out for Summer - Down East